0745 - 2230.
Another breakfast - this time by the American Lung Association. I ran into more people who knew where Washington was - a perennial surprise. The Iowa White Water Association was set up in the rotunda - they are attempting to limit the dangers of so-called wall dams, which are nearly impossible to see at high stages of the river. If sucked into the current caused by such a dam, one is typically killed. These dams also greatly limit the ecosystem of the area. I had an interesting discussion with them. Also, the Boys and Girls Clubs were congregating throughout the Capitol - made it hard to find a place to sit for lunch.
Since I don't have the House Journal with me for Thursday, I will discuss the principal events of the evening. We discussed two very controversial bills - the first was a supplemental spending bill. It was pork. However, it was pork in the same vein that had been issued by Republican representatives in previous years. My only opposition to this true statement is that Senate, House, and Governor all pledged to cut earmarks and pork spending. This bill stands in stark contradiction to that pledge. The bill did pass. The other major issue was a Health Education bill [H.F. 611]. Now this bill was incredibly sneaky. It changes the content of sexual education and other health classes taught by public schools. At this point, you can opt to keep your child out of said classes, but you must file with the "appropriate principal." The sneaky part is that all the curriculum will be "age-appropriate (nothing new here) and research-based." Research-based, in this case, means research as defined by certain "compromise" organizations within the bill, but also "information that is free of racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, and gender biases." Therefore, any curriculum that contains said "biases" is inappropriate for Iowa education for "school districts and accredited nonpublic schools." This information will be provided to the schools as a "supplement," and they can chose to do with it as they will. However, the "bias" part of the bill was never discussed on the floor, never mentioned to the public. That is the stealth and beauty of it all. The bill passed on to the Senate. Much of my faith in the goodwill of this Legislature has been tarnished today.
UPDATE: I did remember an interesting debate during the day - IMNION reminded me of it. One of the first bills considered during the day would ban deer anti-contraceptives for civilian use [H.F. 740]. Apparently, it is currently classified as a "pesticide," and could be abused by civvies. The funny part is that my rep, Representative Greiner, stated she would vote 'no' on this bill because it "amused" her. I found this immensely funny, and my good humor was only deepened by the fact that I was walking behind Majority Leader McCarthy when he shrugged his shoulders and voted 'no' "because he felt like it." The bill passed, 84-13, but the "opposition" was quite varied and rather amusing.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Day 11
0800 - 2230.
Today was an extremely busy day, people- and bill-wise. In the morning, we had breakfast offered by the AARP. Apparently, there was two other breakfasts as well that I missed. TeenPact was back again. We had lunch offered by a retirement community - it was lasagna and garlic bread, the best free lunch I've had yet. Representative Clute's son had his first birthday, so we had cake. An organization of women voters showed up, as well as Just Eliminate Lies (JEL), the anti-smoking group. The Iowa Library Association provided an afternoon snack, with meatballs, smokies, fruit, and cookies. Apparently Washington was represented, although I never saw my boss. Another afternoon snack was served by the American Heart Association "sweethearts," who were, coincidentally, attractive college girls. The AHA snack was quite healthy, thankfully. We saw teens from the Capitol Project '07, which apparently volunteers at the Capitol. Since we went into the evening, I got a piece of excellent cake from the SAA, as well as Happy Joe's pizza left over by the reps. A good day for free stuff.
An appropriations bill for certain state organizations [H.F. 874] was discussed today. Various Republican amendments lost party-line votes, and the bill passed, 52-45. Other business was slim, amidst committee meetings, until the big bill of the evening - H.F. 877, a "statewide voluntary preschool program" for four-year-olds. The biggest opposition to this bill was that it would give public schools an unfair advantage for preschooling, as it provides a teacher for up to 10 hrs a week for every school that wishes to take advantage of the offer. The other opposition was that it would cost upwards of $109 million in 2014, as defined by the bill. Once again, numerous Republican amendments were voted down, although there was a brief flash of humor. Minority Leader Rants asked if Rep. Mascher (D, Johnson) would yield to a question. However, since Rep. Mascher sits one seat to the left, he said, "Would my colleague to the left yield to a question?" Speaker Murphy dryly asked, "Physically or politically?" That was quite amusing. Anyways, the bill passed the House 53-43, and was sent to the Senate. The House adjourned at 11:30 PM, and got ready for the next day.
Today was an extremely busy day, people- and bill-wise. In the morning, we had breakfast offered by the AARP. Apparently, there was two other breakfasts as well that I missed. TeenPact was back again. We had lunch offered by a retirement community - it was lasagna and garlic bread, the best free lunch I've had yet. Representative Clute's son had his first birthday, so we had cake. An organization of women voters showed up, as well as Just Eliminate Lies (JEL), the anti-smoking group. The Iowa Library Association provided an afternoon snack, with meatballs, smokies, fruit, and cookies. Apparently Washington was represented, although I never saw my boss. Another afternoon snack was served by the American Heart Association "sweethearts," who were, coincidentally, attractive college girls. The AHA snack was quite healthy, thankfully. We saw teens from the Capitol Project '07, which apparently volunteers at the Capitol. Since we went into the evening, I got a piece of excellent cake from the SAA, as well as Happy Joe's pizza left over by the reps. A good day for free stuff.
An appropriations bill for certain state organizations [H.F. 874] was discussed today. Various Republican amendments lost party-line votes, and the bill passed, 52-45. Other business was slim, amidst committee meetings, until the big bill of the evening - H.F. 877, a "statewide voluntary preschool program" for four-year-olds. The biggest opposition to this bill was that it would give public schools an unfair advantage for preschooling, as it provides a teacher for up to 10 hrs a week for every school that wishes to take advantage of the offer. The other opposition was that it would cost upwards of $109 million in 2014, as defined by the bill. Once again, numerous Republican amendments were voted down, although there was a brief flash of humor. Minority Leader Rants asked if Rep. Mascher (D, Johnson) would yield to a question. However, since Rep. Mascher sits one seat to the left, he said, "Would my colleague to the left yield to a question?" Speaker Murphy dryly asked, "Physically or politically?" That was quite amusing. Anyways, the bill passed the House 53-43, and was sent to the Senate. The House adjourned at 11:30 PM, and got ready for the next day.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Day 10
0745 - 0530.
A free breakfast was offered from a State Child Care organization. It was also 4-H day at the Legislature, so half of the county 4-H programs were invited to the Capitol. The other half get invited next year. We also had visits from the Iowa Renewable Energy group, in which my neighbor is involved extensively, as well as TeenPact, a Christian political organization involving a FPS arch-competitor as well. A YMCA group was hanging out somewhere too.
We had several non-competitive (and therefore non-controversial) bills come up in the morning. In the afternoon session there was a bill concerning lead testing of children six years old [H.F. 158) that passed, albeit with much discussion. The House also discussed a bill that deals with investment of companies in Sudan [S.F. 361] out of protest for Sudanese atrocities. Other progress was limited - many committee meetings again today.
A free breakfast was offered from a State Child Care organization. It was also 4-H day at the Legislature, so half of the county 4-H programs were invited to the Capitol. The other half get invited next year. We also had visits from the Iowa Renewable Energy group, in which my neighbor is involved extensively, as well as TeenPact, a Christian political organization involving a FPS arch-competitor as well. A YMCA group was hanging out somewhere too.
We had several non-competitive (and therefore non-controversial) bills come up in the morning. In the afternoon session there was a bill concerning lead testing of children six years old [H.F. 158) that passed, albeit with much discussion. The House also discussed a bill that deals with investment of companies in Sudan [S.F. 361] out of protest for Sudanese atrocities. Other progress was limited - many committee meetings again today.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Day 9
1100 - 1800.
Another short Monday. An Iowa State University (ISU) distributed some excellent cupcakes for breakfast. They also had a noon reception in the rotunda, whether celebratory or admonishing, I have no idea. Our choir had a practice today that went very well; however, it was at the same time as the reception. The Price Laboratory School Choir led the pledge, apparently they were a "national school of character." Right. We got hundreds of free cookies for Representative Cohoon's birthday - they were excellent sugar cookies. I had at least five. Later in the day, I saw a group titled 'iowafathers.com' wandering around. TeenPact was around too ... more about that tomorrow.
In regards to legislation, an ICN funding improvement bill [H.F. 851] passed overwhelmingly (97-2), a bill that allows high school students to serve as precinct election board members [618] also passed (83-14), and there were several other minor bills. Most of the day was committee meetings - we only saw 5-6 bills discussed on the floor.
Another short Monday. An Iowa State University (ISU) distributed some excellent cupcakes for breakfast. They also had a noon reception in the rotunda, whether celebratory or admonishing, I have no idea. Our choir had a practice today that went very well; however, it was at the same time as the reception. The Price Laboratory School Choir led the pledge, apparently they were a "national school of character." Right. We got hundreds of free cookies for Representative Cohoon's birthday - they were excellent sugar cookies. I had at least five. Later in the day, I saw a group titled 'iowafathers.com' wandering around. TeenPact was around too ... more about that tomorrow.
In regards to legislation, an ICN funding improvement bill [H.F. 851] passed overwhelmingly (97-2), a bill that allows high school students to serve as precinct election board members [618] also passed (83-14), and there were several other minor bills. Most of the day was committee meetings - we only saw 5-6 bills discussed on the floor.
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